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Police officers and firefighters who helped save lives in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and the shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin were honored with the Medal of Valor in a White House ceremony Wednesday.

Vice President Joe Biden draped the purple and yellow striped ribbons around the necks of 20 public safety officers, and presented medals to the families of two officers killed while responding to armed robberies. The two were off-duty at the time.

"You're a rare breed," Biden said. "You're all crazy. We love you for it. We need you. You are the best thing we have going for us."

Two people were dead on the ground outside the Sikh Temple in August 2012 when Lt. Brian Murphy and Officer Savan Lenda of the Oak Creek Police Department arrived on scene.

The suspected gunman was fleeing. Murphy pulled his gun, but the suspect fired first, hitting Murphy in his throat, legs and hand. When Lenda arrived on the scene and shot the suspect, the shooter crawled out of view and killed himself.

Lenda sent fellow officers to help Murphy, but the lieutenant waved them away and insisted they help those still inside the temple. The White House said the two officers' actions helped save the lives of many.

Boston and the surrounding area were in a state of panic in April 2013 because the suspects in the marathon bombing remained at large. The fateful night when Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev carjacked a vehicle before a dramatic confrontation with police is well known.

Less well known were the contributions of seven officers and firefighters from Watertown, Massachusetts, who received the medal from Biden.

Despite heavy weapon gunfire and reports the brothers were throwing explosives, officers and firefighters who responded helped protect the lives of those in uniform, the White House said. Tamerlan died as a result of the incident; Dzhokhar was apprehended 20 hours later.

Attorney General Eric Holder said this year's medals were particularly poignant, given that the country is struggling with "deep challenges" in the relationship between law enforcement agencies and their communities.

Excerpt from:
Medal of Valor: Officers saved lives in Boston, Wisconsin

Megyn Kelly Highlights the Weird Interview of Eric Holder by MSNBC Host
Melissa Harris Perry Asks the Attorney General to Quack Like a Duck.

By: Michael Hausam

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Megyn Kelly Highlights the Weird Interview of Eric Holder by MSNBC Host - Video

Eric Holder Pushes Back on FBI Agents Critical Letter
Attorney General Eric Holder responds to former FBI agent #39;s scathing letter. Agent McCown #39;s letter has since gone viral.

By: Alan Berkelhammer

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Eric Holder Pushes Back on FBI Agents Critical Letter - Video

Liberty Update - Is Loretta Lynch No Different than Eric Holder? 2/5/15
Please join Liberty Guard as we fight for liberty in the real world.

By: Liberty Guard

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Liberty Update - Is Loretta Lynch No Different than Eric Holder? 2/5/15 - Video

As our colleague Al Kamen notes, Attorney General Eric H. Holder over the weekend politely declined an MSNBC host's offer to "quack like a duck." (After all, who wants to see this headline: "Watch Eric Holder quack like a duck.")

But the exchange provided some insights into his demeanor and, by extension, that ofPresident Obama.

"We say you have a very sort of placid and even way of presenting, but you are just working for justice underneath," Melissa Harris-Perry explained to Holder, who laughed when told of his nickname.

Here's how Holder responded:

I was born and raised in New York City, in the '50s and '60s. And for an African American guy, the thing was to be cool, you know? You gotta be cool, things don't bother you. And so on the surface I like to think that that's the way I appear to be. But you're absolutely right, those little duck feet are just moving as fast as they can underneath and things are ... going as fast as they can behind the scenes. I may have been cool in congressional hearings on the outside, but I was pissed off a lot of the time too. It was a question of trying to rein in those feelings and make sure that on the outside I was cool.

While other politicians can fly off the handle from time to time, both Obama and Holder have rarely done so. Holder has shown more emotion than Obama-- it was very clear in a few of those congressional hearings that he was "pissed off," for instance -- but race and history and their personalities have dictated that they present as cool and professorial in public settings. It's a template that other black politicians with national ambitions will follow, until they don't.

Holder's franknessaround race has set him apart from Obama.He, for instance, framed his treatment in various congressional hearings in racial terms. "What attorney general has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment?" he asked at a National Action Network conference. "What president has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment?" and then there was that whole asparagus thing.

One wonders what Holder would look like if he wasn't so intent on keeping his cool.

Video below:

(h/t The Hill)

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The Fix: Eric Holder explains his (and Obamas) cool demeanor